The Woman with Two Souls (Harry Potter's Twin)
by EmmaWeaslette
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Harry Potter. But nobody knows the story of his twin sister, Nicole. What if Sirius wasn't put in Azkaban? What if Peter was in Azkaban? What if Harry and Nicole went to live with Sirius, and had happy lives while him and Remus spoiled them?
1. Chapter 1

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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Harry!" Eleven year old Nicole Potter screeched, directly into the ear of her sleeping brother./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Harry sat up, shouting something incomprehensible. Looking around, he saw his twin sister standing next to his bed, laughing so hard she had to hold on to the bedposts to stay upright. "What?" He yelled at her, angry and slightly humiliated./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Just thought you'd like to know it's our birthday today!" Nicole said, smiling innocently up at him. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Really? You give me permanent hearing damage to tell me something I already know?" Harry asked, glaring at her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yes." Nicole said, as if this was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Harry's anger was fading. "Niki, one day I'm going to get you back. One of these days, I'm going to make you wish you'd never pranked me." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Well, how about you put those feelings aside and help me prank Moony and Padfoot so hard they cry?" Niki asked, brushing her gently red hair out of her eyes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Nicole, or Niki, as she generally went by, had red hair, but not Weasley red. It was a gentle, dark red that looked very pretty next to her green eyes. She had small bangs, but only on one side, that she always positioned so that it covered up her scar. This scar and their eyes were the only things that Harry and Niki had in common. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Do you really want to prank the master pranksters?" Harry asked skeptically. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yes. And once they know the kind of things we do, they'll never prank us again!" Niki declared triumphantly. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Oh really?" Harry asked, amused./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yes." Niki said simply. "Oh, I've already started. Do you want me to tell Padfoot that you pranked him and Moony because you actually did, or because I'm not taking their retaliation alone?" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""That's blackmail!" Harry exclaimed, although he was now really amused. "Fine, I'll help. What have you already done?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I've put a whoopee cushion on their chairs." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Seriously? That's your master plan?" Harry asked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Well, that's part of it. The point is to make them think we're terrible pranksters, so that they let their guard down. Then, we hit them so hard their eyes are watering from pain for a week." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Nicole Potter, remind me never to get on your bad side." Harry said, shaking his head. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yeah, well anyway, let's get started. The main event doesn't happen until this evening." Niki said. She had a look in her eyes that she only got when she knew that she was going to win any battle that followed, well, whatever she'd done to instigate a battle./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"NHNHNHNH (A/N: NH stands for Nicole Harry. I just repeated that several times.)/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Hey, Padfoot, sit down." Niki said. Sirius made to sit down in Harry's chair./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""No, not there! Sit em style="box-sizing: border-box;"here." /emHarry said, pointing at Sirius's chair./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Why?" Sirius asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Because, uh, that's my chair! em style="box-sizing: border-box;"This /emis your chair." Harry said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Sirius and Remus both sat down, and at the same time, a loud farting noise issued from both of their chairs. Harry and Niki started laughing. Even though this was a lame prank, it was still funny. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Really, you two? A whoopee cushion? Am I that terrible of a teacher?" Sirius asked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I guess you are." Niki said. After they ate, talking and laughing together as they did every morning, Harry and Niki ran upstairs to Harry's room./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Wow, Niki. Even Sirius thought it was lame, and he's the king of lame jokes." Harry said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yeah, well, he won't still think we're lame at pranking tonight." Niki said. "Now, once our Hogwarts letters get here, hide one of them. Then we'll tell Sirius that one of us didn't get into Hogwarts." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Which one of us doesn't make it?" Harry asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I was going to let you pick." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""You don't get into Hogwarts, okay? Your accidental magic has been a lot more subtle than mine have." Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""True." Niki said, nodding. "Here's an idea. What if we make fake letters from Durmstrang? Then you get into Hogwarts, but Hogwarts rejected me and I'm going to Durmstrang instead?" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Oh, they'll go insane at that! Oh, and look, here come two owls..." Harry said, pointing out the window. Niki opened the glass and waved them inside. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Here they are! 'Niki Potter, second room on the right, Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London!" Niki sqealed. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Okay, so lets write the fake Durmstrang letter!" Harry said. Quickly, they wrote the letter, and placed Niki's Hogwarts letter into her pocket, so she could show it to them after they were completely distressed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Moony! Padfoot!" Harry shouted, racing down the stairs, Niki on his heels. "Guess what? My Hogwarts letter just came!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""That's briiliant Harry!" Sirius shouted. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""What about you, Niki?" Remus asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Uh, I didn't get one." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""But you're holding a letter." Remus said, at the same time Sirius yelled, "WHAT?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Oh, yeah, uh, here." Niki said, handing them the fake letter. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Sirius grabbed it, read the envelope, looked as though he didn't believe a word of it, and ripped it open./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"The liquid that's inside gobstones squirted both Remus and Sirius in the face. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""What?" Sirius sputtered. Remus just laughed. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Clever, you two. Really clever. Okay, where's Niki's real letter?" Remus asked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I dunno, I really didn't get one." Niki said, her face falling most convincingly. Harry, playing along, said,/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""You can share mine." He offered. Niki gave him a death glare when Sirius and Remus weren't looking. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I'm writing to Dumbledore! No, forget that, I'm writing to the Minister!" Sirius yelled. Niki was hiding her laughter much better than Harry was. Seeing this, Remus figured out it was a prank. His wink at Niki told them that, but he decided to let it play out. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Sirius, the Minister has no control over who Hogwarts admits." He said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Fine. I'll write to Dumbledore. He'd better have an explanation!" Sirius said in a dangerous tone. He pulled out ink and parchment and muttered as he wrote:/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Albus Dumbledore,br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /How could you not admit Niki into Hogwarts? She is most definitely a witch. What are you playing at? I'll come up to that school and make you admit her. I'm not afraid to use any means possible. You better write back right now. /em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Sirius walked into the living room, sealing the letter into an envelope as he did so. He pulled out some Floo powder and dropped in into the fire. "Dumbledore's office, Hogwarts!" He shouted, and dropped the letter into it. Only about five minutes later, a letter came back out of the fireplace. Sirius ripped it open and read it aloud./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Sirius, I really have no idea what you are talking about. We sent Nicole and Harry both letters earlier today. I don't know why she didn't recieve hers, but we sent it. If you would like, we could send her another one, or if she would prefer she could just use Harry's style="box-sizing: border-box;" /I say again, I have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry about whatever happened. /em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Professor Dumbledore/em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Sirius looked up at Harry and Niki, who were both about to burst from holding in laughter. "Okay, you two, what's up?" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""The sky." Niki promptly replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Very funny." Sirius said, glaring at her. Under her gaurdian/dad/uncle/who knows what's glare, Niki pulled out her Hogwarts letter./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""It arrived this morning. With Harry's." Niki said, then burst out laughing. The look on Sirius's face was priceless! /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Did you know about this, Remus?" Sirius demanded./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Not until I saw Harry and Niki laughing in the kitchen. I decided to see how far they would take it." Remus replied. Sirius looked livid. "Seriously, Sirius, lighten up. You've pranked them tons of times. This was actually really funny!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Finally, Sirius started to laugh. "Okay, okay, it was pretty funny. It was mean, though! If I had tried, would you have let me write to the Minister?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yes." Niki said. This made the group of four start laughing even harder. /p  
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	2. Chapter 2

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Nicole!" Remus called up the stairs of Number 12. "It's time to go!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki came skipping down the stairs. "You know Moony, I'm really excited to go to Hogwarts. What House do you think I'll be in?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I don't know, Niki, but I'll be happy with whatever you get." Moony said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Aw, thanks! I think that Hufflepuff would be my first choice, but if I can't have that then I think I'll choose Slytherin. After that would be Gryffindor, then Ravenclaw. I don't think that Ravenclaw would be an ideal choice for me because I'm not that smart or wise. Plus, I hate schoolwork. Of course, I've never tried Wizard schoolwork. I've only ever done Muggle schoolwork, which is all just math and science. I don't think I'll be taking Arithmancy once I get to third year, because that's pretty much just math. I hate math! Oh, I came up with new names for you and Padfoot." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh?" Remus asked, amused. "And what would those be?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I'm going to call you Moomy and Dadfoot. You know, Mommy and Dad?" Niki explained. "Well, obviously I know that you're not a mom, and Padfoot's not my real dad, but I just think that that's what I'll call you. Is that okay?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Of course that's okay, Niki." Remus said in a quiet voice. Niki was so wrapped up in her own little world, she didn't notice, and just skipped off to the kitchen. A few moments after she was gone, Sirius down the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Moony, I think that -" Sirius cut himself off. "Remus, are you okay?" br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Remus looked up. He hadn't noticed that he'd been staring at the kitchen door for the past five minutes. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Do you know what Niki just called us?" he whispered. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Sirius, thinking that it was something rude, said "No,"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"She called us Moomy and Dadfoot." Remus said. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Sirius opened his mouth, then closed it again, and looked towards the kitchen. "She's a sweet little girl." He finally said, after a few minutes of style="box-sizing: border-box;" / "Yes, she really is." Remus replied. From the kitchen, there came a sound of breaking glass, then a shout of, "Wasn't me!" Remus and Sirius looked at each other, grinned and hurried into the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Okay, what happened?" Sirius style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Harry did it, Dadfoot!" Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I did not! It was entirely Niki!" Harry objected. Neither of them noticed that Sirius's eyes had misted over at Niki calling him Dadfoot. He quickly pulled himself together./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Can someone just tell us what happened?" Remus asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry pushed me, which made me slip and hit your cup, Moomy." Niki explained./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I only pushed her because she called me Hairy Potty!" Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I only called him that because he said that he thinks that red hair doesn't suit me!" Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because she told me that my hair looks stupid all the time!" Harry fired style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because he said that I eat like a pig!" Niki said style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because you said I eat like a princess!" Harry replied, getting style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because you said I look silly in this dress!" Niki replied, referring to the pale green skirt and silver blouse she was style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because it makes you look like a Slytherin, and you said you want to be in Slytherin!" Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because I do, and you said that Slytherins are stupid bullies!" Niki said, getting style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I only said that because they are!" Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Have you ever met one? You only hang out with Ron! You've never met a Slytherin!" Niki said, looking like she was about to cry./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Sirius and Remus looked at each other. They had to calm Niki down, or she would end up hurting Harry. Not that she would mean to, of style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Niki had this strange kind of magic in her. Whenever she got mad, or sad, or just upset, it exploded out of her, and the person she was mad at would end up seriously injured. Once she even killed an animal that had injured her pet cat, but that was when she was very little. However, she still had no control over it. She didn't even know she had it. Harry did, but was under strict orders not to tell her anything about them. Whenever her magic exploded out of her, Niki would remember none of it. But recently, she had started thinking that she remembered things about it. And if she found out, it would terrify her, and she wouldn't want to be around anyone, for fear she would hurt them. Remus and Sirius knew this, because they asked her what she would do if she had powers that she couldn't control and hurt people. She said that she wouldn't go near people, because she didn't want them to get hurt. Finding out about these powers would destroy the innocent little girl that they loved, and Sirius and Remus weren't going to let that style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"You're right, entirely my fault." Harry said hastily. Obviously, he had seen what was coming. Sometimes he was really annoyed with Niki, but he had to admit that now it sounded like it was his fault. Plus, saying those things about Slytherins was out of line. He knew that she had a strict policy about fairness, and any injustice or unfairness, that didn't go unsolved, quickly set her off./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Anyway, you two, go get your trunks. We're leaving in five minutes. Plus we've got a surprise for both of you!" Sirius said. This made them both run upstairs and reappear, in less than one minute, destroying the ground by dragging their trunks down the hallway. Sirius and Remus both ran upstairs to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Once they got to the living room, they set the trunks down./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You both wait here. We'll go get the surprises!" Remus said, and he and Sirius hurried out of the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"You know, Moomy and Dadfoot are both really nice to us. Especially considering that we were just dumped on them without notice." Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yeah, they are." Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Sirius and Remus came back into the room, and they both had large boxes in their style="box-sizing: border-box;" / "SURPRISE!" They both yelled, handing them the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Harry and Niki ripped the boxes open. Harry said, "Thanks!" but Niki just started jumping up and down, style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" She squealed, over and over and over style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Harry reached into the box and withdrew a cage with a beautiful snowy owl in it. Niki reached into her box and withdrew a small carrier with an adorable black puppy in it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;" data-permalink=" movellas-users. . " data-size="small" data-type="img" data-processed="true" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;" ^This is Niki's puppy.^/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""She's so cute!" Niki squealed, hugging the puppy close. "Even though she doesn't have horns, her name is Prongs!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Remus and Sirius looked at each other. "Okay, Harry, Niki, come here, and hold onto your trunks." Sirius said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""We're going to Kings Cross by apparition." Remus added. Harry grabbed Remus's arm, and Niki grabbed Sirius's arm, and, with a twist into darkness, the little family was off to Kings Cross. /p 


	3. Chapter 3

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"By Moomy! By Dadfoot!" Niki called out of a window of the Hogwarts Express. Ron looked at her strangly. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Moomy and Dadfoot?" he asked Harry./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You know, since I'm the one who said it, you could ask me." Niki said, slightly irritated. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, soh-ree." Ron said, also irritated. "Well? How come you called them that?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Because. They're my Moomy and Dadfoot." Niki said, and walked away. Harry caught up to her a few moments later./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You know, Niki, you could be nicer to my friend." Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I don't like Ron or Percy. I only like Ginny, Fred and George." Niki said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Why?" Harry asked. Before Niki could answer, however, Ron caught up to them, and Niki sped up. She entered a compartment with only one girl in it. She had bushy brown hair, brown eyes, and rather large front teeth. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hello! My name is Nicole, but please call me Niki. I'm a first year on my way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I have one brother named Harry, plus I have a Moomy and a Dadfoot." Niki said, very quickly./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hello. I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione said, looking up. Then she said, "Holy cricket! You're Nicole Potter, one of the twins who lived!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, yes I am." Niki said, feeling her face grow hot. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you!" Hermione said quickly. "As I said before, my name is Hermione Granger." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hi, Hermione. Wow, Hermione, that's such a pretty name." Niki said, hearing her voice grow dreamy. It was Hermione's turn to blush. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""It's not that special. Besides, it's so uncommon. Nobody knows how to pronounce it, and everybody laughs when someone knew calls me Hermy-one." Hermione said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I think Hermione is a beautiful name. Nicole is so common, and even though I like it, it would be cool to have an uncommon name." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Thanks." Hermione said. "So, Niki, who do you live with? I know that your parents got killed, but I don't know who you went to live style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, I live with Moomy and Dadfoot." Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" / "Um, who?" Hermione asked, looking very style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Oh, mine and Harry's godfathers, Sirius and Remus. Harry calls them Moony and Padfoot, but I call them Moomy and Dadfoot." Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Oh, that's sweet." Hermione said. At that moment, a tearful boy appeared in their style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Have either of you seen a toad?" the boy asked. "My name's Neville, by the way. I've lost my toad, can you please help me find it?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, we haven't seen one, but we can help you." Hermione style="box-sizing: border-box;" /The trio left the compartment, and started asking up and down the train whether people had seen the toad. Hermione got to Harry and Ron's compartment before Niki did, but she snuck up behind her to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one." Hermione said. She then noticed that Ron had his wand out. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see then."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Ron cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Nothing style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Are you sure that's a real spell?" Hermione asked. "Well, it's not very good, is it. Of course, I've only tried a few simple ones myself, but they've all worked for me." She walked over and pointed her wand at Harry's glasses, which I had broken earlier that day. "For example. Oculous, reparo." Harry's glasses style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Holy cricket. You're Harry Potter!" Hermione said, sounding excited. "I'm Hermione Granger. And, you are?" Hermione asked Ron, distaste evident on her face and in her style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Um, Ron Weasley." Ron replied with his mouth full of style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Pleasure." Hermione said, clearly not meaning it. She turned back to Harry. "You two had better get into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." She started to leave, then stopped and turned back to Ron. "You've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know? Just there." she indicated the place on Ron's nose that had the dirt on it. Ron rubbed at it, but it didn't come off. Hermione left style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"That was brilliant, Hermione!" Niki said, laughing her head off. "You confused them so much! Ron probably hates you now."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, I don't care what he thinks. Come on, you'd better change too, you know." The pair walked back to their compartment, changed, and soon they arrived at Hogwarts./p 


	4. Chapter 4

As Niki and Hermione left the train, they heard a shout.

"Firs' years, this way! Firs' years, over here!" It was Hagrid, who Harry and Niki had met a few times, because apparently Sirius and Remus had been good friends with him when they were at Hogwarts.

"Hey Hagrid!" Niki heard Harry say, at the same time Ron looked up and said, "Woah!"

"That's so tactless, Ron!" Niki said, walking up beside them, Hermione close on her heels. "By the way, Harry, this is my BFTNMTB. Best friend that's not my twin brother."

"Hi. We met on the train, didn't we? You were helping Neville find a toad." Harry said.

"Yes, we did. Your friend doesn't seem pleased to see me." Hermione said.

Ron was, indeed, looking at Hermione with obvious distaste on his face.

"Hermione, save me a seat in one of the boats." Niki said, for they had been following Hagrid as they talked, and were now standing in front of a fleet of boats. As soon as she had left, Niki rounded on Ron. "What is your problem?" She demanded.

"What?" Ron asked, defensive.

"That's my best friend and you're being absolutely foul to her! Knock it off or so help me-" Harry cut Niki off.

"Niki! Relax!" he exclaimed.

"No, Harry, I will not relax! If Ron doesn't fix his attitude towards Hermione, then we're going to leave and not hang out with him. And as he's always with you, that means that we won't be hanging out with you, either! So you can help him fix his attitude, or I'll fix it for both of you, and then neither of you will see much of me or Hermione for our entire seven years here!" With that, Niki stalked off to find Hermione, leaving Ron muttering to Harry, and Harry staring after her, obviously trying to figure out why she got so mad when all Ron had done was glare.

Professor McGonagall had told the group of first years about the Sorting Ceremony, and about the Houses. She was now leading them into the Great Hall, and she placed the Sorting Hat on the stool. A rip near the brim opened, and the Hat began to sing.

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see.  
I'll eat myself if you can find,  
A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,  
And your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,  
And I can cap them all.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart.  
Their daring nerve and chivalry,  
Set Gryffindors apart.

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal.  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,  
And unafraid of toil.

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
If you've a ready mind.  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind.

Or perhaps in Slytherin,  
You'll make your real friends.  
Those cunning folk use any means,  
To achieve their ends.

So put me on,  
Don't be afraid,  
And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands,  
Though I have none,  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

As soon as the Hat finished it's song, the Hall rang with applause. McGonagall started speaking again, and the applause died down until it stopped.

"When I call your name, you will put the Hat on your head. It will announce your House, and you will join them at their table." She unrolled a long scroll. "Abbot, Hannah!"

A small girl walked up to the stool, sat down, and put to Hat on. After a few moments, the Hat called out, Hufflepuff!" and she joined the table third farthest from the door. After a few more names, "Granger, Hermione!" Was called.

Hermione walked up to the stool, muttering to herself.

"Mental, that one." Niki heard Ron say, so she stomped on his foot. He gasped in pain, but not loud enough for anyone but Niki and Harry to hear.

"Gryffindor!" The Hat called out, and Hermione joined the table cheering loudest. Again after a few more names, McGonagall called a name that caught Niki's attention.

"Malfoy, Draco!" Before the Hat had even been placed all the way on his head, the Hat called, "Slytherin!"

"There wasn't a wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin!" Ron whispered to Harry. This time, Niki rounded on him.

"Well, guess what, Ronald? I'd like to be in Slytherin, and what you just said wasn't even true. What about Peter Pettigrew? He's the one who betrayed my parents to Voldemort, and he was a Gryffindor!" Niki said. Ron opened his mouth, shut it, and chose to ignore this, which made Niki even angrier. She was about to yell at him, not caring who heard, when Harry grabbed her shoulders, turned her around and kept ahold of her, making it so that she couldn't turn around again. After a few minutes of this, McGonagall called one of the three names she cared about.

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry walked up to the stool, looking very nervous. Niki was praying that he would get Gryffindor, because she knew that was the House he really wanted. Once the Hat was on his head, Harry started muttering. It looked like he was having a conversation with it, which he probably was. After almost five minutes, the Hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry started beaming, took the Hat off, and headed off towards the Gryffindor table. Niki smiled after him, and then heard her name.

"Potter, Nicole!"

Niki walked up towards the stool, her heart hammering. She was so scared. She was okay with any of the Houses, but, well, it was natural to feel nervous. Once she reached the stool, she sat down and put the Hat on.

 _Another Potter. Your parents were in Gryffindor, so are your guardians, and so is your twin. Of course, not all twins are together, so I mustn't go on that. However, I can see you really want to be with him, even if you don't want to be in Gryffindor._

Niki sat silently, unlike Harry, and waited for the Hat's decision.

 _You're very brave, and smart, but I don't think Ravenclaw is an ideal choice for you. Ironically, I think that Slytherin or Gryffindor are the only choices for you, and they're almost opposites... I think, it better be,_ GRYFFINDOR!

Niki smiled, took off the Hat, and skipped towards Harry and Hermione. She was a little disappointed, but she was very happy to be with Harry and Hermione. She sat next to Harry and across from Hermione. After a while, Ron joined them, much to Niki's disappointment. Oh well. After they ate a delicious feast, Dumbledore gave a speech telling them the rules, like the forest was off limits and Filch was a party-pooper who banned anything fun. Once he finished, the prefects led the first years to the dormitories. Niki stuck close to Harry as they walked up moving flights of stairs to Gryffindor Tower.


	5. Chapter 5

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki woke up early the next day. She was so excited for her classes! She thought her favorite one would probably be potions, because she just loved baking and cooking, and how different could the two be, really? /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"She walked downstairs, then decided to bug Harry, who was still in the boy's dorms. She skipped to the stairs to the boys dormitories, then bounced up them. Once she came to the door, she paused. She knew that the stairs to the girls dorms turned to a slide if a boy tried to get up them. There had to be something that happened if a girl tried to get into the boys dorms. She decided to try anyway. Opening the door, she braced herself, but nothing happened. Grinning in triumph, she skipped into the dorm, where Neville, Dean, and Seamus were already awake. Ron and Harry were still asleep, predictably. She put her finger to her lips to keep the three boys quiet, and tiptoed to Harry's bed. The boys, sensing that something was about to happen, stayed silent, and watched, looking excited. Once Niki was crouched down beside Harry's bed, she picked up the water jug, lifted it above his head, and tipped it over, at the same time she screamed, "BLOODY MURDER!" span style="box-sizing: border-box;"Harry sat bolt upright, yelling and looking around, flailing his limbs. The water jug smashed on his head. "MURDER! MURDER! DEATH! BLOOD! HELP! MURDER!" Niki continued screaming./span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box;"Ron screamed and/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box;" sat up, too. Neville, Dean and Seamus fell out of bed, they were laughing so hard. /span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry finally stopped panicking, and saw Niki on the floor next to his now sopping wet bed, and the other boys in his dormitory rolling around next to their beds, all four laughing. He looked at Ron, who had just stopped screaming. Niki looked up at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""WHAT?" Harry yelled, furious./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I thought that you'd like to know that today is our first day at Hogwarts. Also, I wanted to say good morning, but you wouldn't wake up." Niki said, smiling at him, looking all cute and innocent. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""And you couldn't wake me up a normal way?" Harry shouted, still furious./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I tried. I tried really hard. I even missed breakfast and our first class to keep trying, and the other boys decided to stay and watch. Just so you know, Potions starts in five minutes." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""WHAT?" Harry and Ron yelled, leaping out of bed. They started grabbing their clothes and getting dressed, so fast that by the time they were done, the dormitory was a mess and almost unrecognizable. Chasing after Harry and Ron as they rushed out of the dorm and through the portrait hole, Niki decided to wait until they were waiting in front of Snape's Potions class before she told them./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Um, Harry?" Niki said, holding in her laughter as she backed away slowly, sure that Harry would try to kill her when he found out that it was a prank./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What, Niki?" Harry asked, panting./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Backing away faster now, Niki continued speaking, talking really fast. "Just thought you'd like to know that it's six in the morning and that none of even the teachers are even at breakfast yet bye!" she said, all in one breath, then she turned and sprinted away. Harry ran after her, but didn't catch up to her until she was back in the common room. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Percy Weasley pushed past Niki as she opened the Portrait Hole. He said something about Dumbledore.../p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"All of Gryffindor was awake now, and one seventh year was in the middle of a crowd, who seemed to be panicking./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""SHUT UP!" the boy said. "I've sent Percy to get Dumbledore. He should be here any minute, and then we'll explain about the blood and stuff in the first year boys dorms."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What happened?" a girl called from the opposite side of the common room as Niki, Harry, and Ron, who were all three standing motionless in front of the Portrait Hole./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, we all heard Niki scream about murder. Once we got into the first year dorms, it was trashed, there was blood in a lot of places, and the dorms were deserted. We can't find any of the boys, or Niki." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki turned around and realized that the other three boys were coming in. They had followed them. The rest of Gryffindor thought there actually had been murder! Harry turned and looked at her, and they both stifled their laughter. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Look! There they all are!" someone near them shouted. The entire crowd turned around. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry! Niki! Ron! Dean! Seamus! Neville! What happened?" the seventh year boy asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I was just pranking Harry and Ron. I didn't realize you could all here me." Niki started explaining. "Harry and Ron started getting ready for Potions, because I told them they were late for classes. They trashed the dorm. I don't know where the blood came from, though."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I do." Harry said. "I got cut on a knife that Ron had brought up from the common room, Fred and George gave it to him, to cut some rope and string and stuff his mum had used to tie his stuff together." Harry held up his hands, which were cut and bleeding. "The blood must have gotten on my stuff." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"At that moment, McGonagall came in./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"A/N: So? What did you all think of Niki torturing Harry? Pretty funny, right? Anyway, please submit characters for the contest! It ends August 15, and that's only Monday! Also, sorry for the cliffhanger, but the next chapter should be up really soon. /strong/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"Did you notice how Niki screamed bloody murder? That's an expression my mom uses if someone screams like someones being murdered, does anybody else use it, too?/strong/p 


	6. Chapter 6

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""BLOODY MURDER! Hermione jolted awake at Niki's scream, followed by the sound of glass shattering. It seemed to be coming from the boys dorms. "MURDER! MURDER! DEATH! BLOOD! HELP! MURDER!" Niki continued screaming./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""What's going on?" Lavender Brown had woken up, as well. Looking around, Hermione realized that all the first year girls were awake, and Niki was not in the room. /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""Come on! That was Niki!" Hermione shouted, leaping out of bed and running towards the door. The staircase was flooded with students, all heading for the first year boys dorm. Hermione heard the portrait hole slam, which made her even more nervous. Hermione and Parvati were in front of most everyone else, but behind a seventh year boy, whose name she thought was Michael Trunkstien. They followed him into the dorm. /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"Hermione almost screamed. The room was trashed, the hangings were pulled off Harry and Ron's beds, and Harry's was soaking wet. The water jug lay broken on the bed. There was blood all over the place, and a kitchen knife lay bloody on the floor. /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""EVERYONE DOWN TO THE COMMON ROOM, NOW!" Michael shouted. The mass of people moved down the stairs into the common room. "PERCY, GO GET PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE!" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"Percy left the room./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""SHUT UP!" Michael yelled. The room went silent. I've sent Percy to get Dumbledore. He should be here any minute, and then we'll explain about the blood and stuff in the first year boys dorm."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""What happened?" Lavender shouted from near the staircase to the dorms. /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""Well, we heard Niki scream about murder. Once we got into the first year dorms, it was trashed, there was blood in a lot of places, and the dorms were deserted. We couldn't find any of the boys, or Niki." /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"Hermione was about to cry. Had all the boys been murdered, on their first day at Hogwarts? /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""Look! There they are!" Fred yelled. The entire crowd turned towards the portrait hole, where all the boys and Niki were standing. /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""Harry! Niki! Ron! Dean! Seamus! Neville! What happened?" Michael asked./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""I was just pranking Harry and Ron. I didn't realize you could all hear me." Niki started explaining. "Harry and Ron started to get ready for Potions, because I told them they were late for classes. They trashed the dorm. I don't know where they blood came from, though." /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;""I do." Harry said. "I got cut on a knife that Ron had brought up from the common room, Fred and George gave it to him, to cut some rope and string and stuff his mum had used to tie his stuff together." Harry held up his hands, which were cut and bleeding. "The blood must have gotten on my stuff."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1em;"span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"At that moment, McGonagall came in./span/span/p 


	7. Chapter 7

"Potters! Finnigan! Thomas! Weasley! Longbottom! Weasley told me you had all been murdered!" McGonagall said, turning to glare at Percy.

"That's what Michael told me!" Percy said. Niki assumed he was referring to the seventh year boy.

"We heard Niki scream about murder, and then we couldn't find anyone, the dorm was trashed, and there was blood. Turns out the blood and trashing was an accident, everyone leaving was a coincidence, and Niki screaming was a prank on Harry and Ron." Michael explained. "We thought Percy went to get Dumbledore."

"He did!" McGonagall said, her notrils flaring and turning white, and her mouth turning into a thin line. Niki didn't know that a mouth could go that thin. "He sent me to take you lot downstairs to the Great Hall, while he alerted the rest of the staff and prepared the students for evacuation!"

The situation just kept getting funnier to Niki.

"Come." McGonagall demanded. "We must go to the Great Hall and inform Dumbledore."

Gryffindor followed McGonagall downstairs to the Great Hall and watched as she informed Dumbledore as to what had happened. He looked livid.

"SILENCE!" He shouted out over the panicking students at the tables. "Nicole Potter, come up here. Now." Niki walked up to the head table. "Will you care to explain what happened here?"

"Well, I was pranking Harry and Ron, my twin and his friend. I shouted that there had been murder, and smashed the water jug over his head. Then I told him he was late for classes. They trashed the dorm, and Harry got cut. Then me and the other boys in his dorm followed Harry and Ron down to Potions, the class I told them they were late for, since that's our second class today. When we got back, everyone was panicking. I didn't realize the entirety of Gryffindor Tower could hear me when I yelled." Niki explained.

"Nicole, do you have something to tell the school?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes. I have one thing to say to ya'll." Niki said.

"Don't forget to say sorry to the school." Dumbledore reminded.

"Fine, two things." Niki said. Dumbledore started to chuckle. "One, the next person to call me Nicole will get hexed. Next, by Dumbeldore's personal request, sorry to the school." Niki left the Head Table. Dumbledore was laughing harder now. He composed himself, and dismissed the school to get ready for classes.


	8. Chapter 8

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki walked with Hermione down to breakfast. They had just finished getting ready for classes. The final classes of today would end an hour early, since the start had been delayed about an hour./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Niki, I can't believe you did that." Hermione sighed. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Did what?" Niki asked as she skipped slightly ahead of Hermione. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You pranked the entire school, let it keep going, weren't remotely sorry, and blatantly disobeyed Dumbledore when he told you to apologize!" Hermione exclaimed. "All in your very first day!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, well, Sirius and Remus should have gotten Dumbledore's letter about it. Apparently Dumbledore wrote to Mrs. Weasley about it, too. I bet we both get a howler." Niki said, quite cheerfully. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Come on, lets go get a seat." Hermione said, rolling her eyes./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The pair sat down next to a first year girl in their dormitory, whose name they didn't know yet. She was very pretty, with her red hair against her pale skin./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hi! My name is Nicole, but if you call me that I'll hex you. Call me Niki. What's your name?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""My name is Lily." the girl said, looking shyly to the ground. "I know who you are. You're Nicole Potter, who prefers to be called Niki. You and your brother are famous." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I know." Niki sighed, not looking remotely happy about it. "This is my best friend, by the way." Niki indicated Hermione./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""My name is Hermione Granger." Hermione said, holding out her hand. Lily shook it. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well." Niki said. "I guess we're best friends now." Lily and Hermione laughed. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"After breakfast, Niki, Lily, and Hermione left the Great Hall and headed to Transfiguration. Once they got there, Professor McGonagall did not seem happy to see that her first class contained both Potters and a Weasley./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Listen up. I will not tolerate any fooling around in this class. You will do your schoolwork, and you will do it quietly, unless I instruct you otherwise. If you fail to abide by any of my rules, you shall leave and not return. You have been warned."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki heard Hermione gulp beside her. She had to admit, even she was a little nervous. She, in particular, would find it hard to stay quiet unless she was using an incantation. She was a little chatty. She was, however, excited to start, especially once she saw McGonagall turn her desk into a pig and back. Niki was, therefor, disappointed when they were handed a match and told to turn it into a needle./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;" By the end of the class, however, Niki learned that she was very good at Transfiguration. She had managed to turn her match all the way into a needle. Even Hermione's had only gone slightly silver and pointy. This made Niki very proud./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"After Transfiguration was Potions. Niki was very excited for this class. Especially because of all the stories of Professor Snape she'd heard from Sirius and Remus. She couldn't wait to meet the "slimey git" she'd heard so much about, so she skipped down to the dungeons. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Snape let them in, and silence fell immediately once the door banged shut./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Snape began his class by taking roll. He got to Harry, and paused./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Ah, yes. Harry Potter. Our new, celebrity." Niki was already disliking this guy./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Nicole Potter." Snape snapped, looking up./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Here." Niki said. Snape located her, and froze. His mouth opened slightly, then closed. He moved on with the roll./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Once he had finished the roll, he waved his wand, and writing appeared on the blackboard. "The instructions are on the board, begin."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"At the end of the class, Niki had figured out that Snape hated Harry, yet favored her and he Slytherins. She was pleased to see, however, that she had made the potion prefectly./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well done, Lily!" Snape said, his hand on her shoulder./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I'm not Lily. My name is Niki." Niki said, looking up at him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, of course." Snape said. To cover his lapse, Snape walked over to Neville, who's potion had exploded. Soon, everyone was standing on their chairs, as the potion was burning through their shoes. Neville, who had been covered in the potion, whimpered in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hospital wing, Longbottom." Snape snapped. Then he rounded on Harry. "You, Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he messed up? that's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him under the table and muttered something Niki couldn't hear./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hey! He was focused on his own potion! Besides, what did Harry and Neville do to you to make you hate them? You're being completely unfair and mean!" Niki burst out./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Come to my office after the lesson, Ms. Potter." Snape said, sweeping away./p 


	9. Chapter 9

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""So, Niki." Snape said, resting his chin on his fingertips./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yes sir?" Niki asked, thinking she was about to get detention./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You are aware that the comment you made in class today was completely unacceptable." Snape began./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What you said to Harry was also completely unacceptable!" Niki said, bristling at the injustice about it./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I am aware of that, Niki." Snape style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"You are?" Niki asked, completely taken style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes, I am. So, I would like to apologize." Snape style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Really?" Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes. And, also, I suppose I shall return two points to Gryffindor, along with an extra five for being so unkind." Snape style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Dadfoot said that you were really mean and favored Slytherin and hated Gryffindor." Niki mused. "I don't think that's true."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Believe me, it is." Snape said. "I just, you just remind me of someone I cared about very much when I was a child."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Really?" Niki asked, interested "Who?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Snape hesitated, but this felt just like talking to Lily, so he decided to tell her. "Your mother. I loved her very much, but she left me for James."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Is that why you don't like Harry?" Niki asked. "He reminds you of James?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I am ashamed to tell you that it is." Snape admitted. "I shall try to be fair to him, just like I am to you."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"You know, you're lucky it's lunch next, otherwise you'd have to tell Quirrell why I'm late." Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes, well, watch out for Quirrell." Snape warned. "I don't trust him."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes, sir." Niki said. She stood and skipped to the door, then stopped. "Professor, can I call you Severus?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Severus considered for a moment. "Yes, I believe you can." he finally style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"okay." Niki said, smiling. "Bye, Sev." and with that, she was style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /-br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Severus stared after Niki as she left. She was already calling him Sev. Just as he was about to let his carefully masked emotions out, Minerva style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Severus-" she cut off. "Severus, are you okay?" she asked, concerned, for Severus had already dropped the mask when she entered, and was finding it difficult to put it back style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes, yes, I'm fine." Severus said style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"No, you're not." Minerva said. "You looked like you were about to cry." She was finding it difficult to believe she was talking to Severus Snape at the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, you may need stronger glasses then." Severus style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, I just saw Niki, of all people, skipping merrily away from your office, so I thought I'd see if you were still alive."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Are you implying that I am mean?" Severus style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, for the last twelve years, students have left your office crying or, at the very least, frowning and angry. A student leaving your office happy must be a new record."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"What do you want, Minerva?" Severus style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I simply wanted to see how your first class with Harry and Niki in it went." Minerva said style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"It went fine. I was a little harsh with Harry, but I very much enjoyed having Niki in my class."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Severus, you have to remember that they're not their parents. Niki is not Lily and Harry is not James. Make sure you don't treat them like they are!" Minerva style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"But Niki acts so much like Lily. She just called me Sev!" Severus exclaimed dropping his mask and not even trying to put it back up. "And Harry is the spitting image of his father. Perhaps not on the inside, but I am having difficulty in seeing past the outside!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Severus, you must try!" Minerva said, surprised at how much emotion he was letting show. "You can't treat Harry like he is James, or you will never get along!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"But he was raised by Black and Lupin!" Severus argued, acting like he was a student about to get style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"So was Niki." Minerva shot style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"But Niki is more like Lily!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Actually, I had a class with them both in it before you did." Minerva said. "Niki seemed more like James, and Harry seemed more like Lily."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Maybe around you, but around me it is the opposite!" Severus shouted, standing style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Just because she called you Sev and looks like her, doesn't mean she is Lily!" Minerva shouted, standing up as well. "You have to see past your deluded interpretation to the actual children! If you don't, then you may ruin Niki, who is apparently your perfect Lily! If Niki did not resemble her, would you even like her?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" / "OUT!" roared Severus. "GET OUT OF MY OFFICE THIS INSTANT, WOMAN! YOU WILL NOT SAY THINGS LIKE THAT TO ME!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Minerva gave him a look that, had she been able to, would have dropped him to the ground dead. Then, she swept towards the door, pausing only to turn back to him for one moment. "If you do not realize that they are not their parents, neither of them will like you for long." Then, she left the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Severus sat down at his desk, and let the tears fall./p 


	10. Chapter 10

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""So, Dadfoot, you know Professor Snape?" Niki asked, talking to Sirius through a four-way mirror. Remus, Sirius, Harry and Niki all had one, and they were all style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Yes ." Sirius said. "Your father, Remus and I had a lot of fun with old Snivellus."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, I got mad at him during Potions today because he was being really unfair to Harry and took two points away from Gryffindor when Harry didn't do anything." Niki began. "So I yelled at him."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Do you have a death wish, Niki?" Sirius style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Let me finish, Dadfoot!" Niki said. "Anyway, he told me to talk to him after class. He gave back the two points, gave Gryffindor an extra five for, and I quote, 'being so unkind,' told me he loved Lily, told me he was unfair to Harry because of James, and promised to not be so unfair to Harry!" Niki said excitedly. "Plus, we're on first name terms now. I called him Sev, and he didn't get mad at me."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Child, what did you do?" Sirius asked. "You thawed the snowman!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Um, what?" Niki asked, confused. At that moment, Harry walked over to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Niki, Professor Snape wants to see us both." Harry informed her./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Why?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I dunno. Ask him when we get down there." Harry suggested, rolling his eyes. He style="box-sizing: border-box;" / "I guess I have to go." Niki said to Sirius."Talk to you later, I guess." With that, she pushed a button on the mirror, turning it off, and put it away. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Wait up, Harry!" she shouted through the portrait hole, sprinting to catch up to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Would it kill you to wait for me?" Se asked once she stopped panting. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I said time to go, and you kept talking." Harry pointed out,br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"To say bye to Dadfoot!" Niki said indignantly. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Whatever come on." Harry said, leading the way to Severus's style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /-br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Remus, we have a problem." Sirius said to Remus after he put down the mirror and walked downstairs. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"And what would that be?" Remus askedbr style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Niki and Snivellus are on first name terms, and she calls him 'Sev.'" Sirius said. "That's the problem."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Sirius, I don't see what the big deal is." Remus style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"The big deal is that we have to separate them, before Niki falls into his trap and Snivllus urns her against us!" Sirius style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Whatever, Sirius." Remus said, leaving Sirius in fuming style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /p 


	11. Chapter 11

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki skipped down the stairs to Snape's office. "What do you think he wants?" she called over her shoulder to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Probably to give me a detention for something I didn't do." Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Then why would he want me?" Niki pointed style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"To give you one, too." Harry said, as if it were style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I don't think so. We're on first name terms now." Niki said. "I call him Sev, and he calls me Niki, not Ms. Potter."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""He does?" Harry asked sounding completely mistified./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, he does." She paused, thinking. " I think I know what he wants!" she announced to Harry./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Really? What?" Harry asked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I dunno. I hope he hurries, though. I promised Hermione and Lily I'd meet them for dinner." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I hope he hurries because I also want to get to dinner quickly." Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Why? Are you meeting Ron?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No. Because I'm hungry." Harry said, grinning. Niki laughed. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, we're here. So come on." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki opened the door to Snape's office. "Hi Severus." she said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hello Niki." Severus said. "And Harry." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry looked at Niki. His eyes clearly betrayed what he was thinking. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Did Snape really just call me by my first name? /emNiki grinned, and nodded. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, Mr.- Harry," Severus began. "I called you down to my office this evening to, apologize."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry looked uncertainly from Severus to Niki and back again. "Okay..." he said hesitently. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""That is all. You may go to dinner now." Severus said. Harry left, but Niki hung back. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Thanks, Sev." she said. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You are welcome, Niki. Now off you go to dinner. I assume that Ms. Granger and Ms. Sapientez will be waiting for you."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay. Bye, Sev." Niki said, and disappeared out the door. /p 


	12. Chapter 12

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki's P.O.V./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki woke up bright and early on her second day at Hogwarts. Looking over to the bed next to her, she saw Hermione and Lily were both still asleep. She grinned when she saw how messy Hermione's hair was. It was honestly a miracle that she managed to comb it every morning. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Leaving the dorm quietly, Niki debated pranking Harry again, but decided against it. She didn't want another morning like yesterday. So she decided instead to talk to Dadfoot. Niki took her mirror out of her bag, held it up, and said "Sirius." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"After a moment, Sirius's face materialized in the small frame. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hey, Niki!" he said. Leaning over, talking to someone out of the frame, he said, "Hey, Moony, it's Niki." After a few moments, Remus's face joined Sirius's./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hi Moomy, hi Dadfoot." Niki said, grinning. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hi Niki! How's Hogwarts?" Remus asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Pretty good. Have you gotten the letter from Dumbledore about yesterday yet?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Actually, yes. So we've sent something along with Hedwig for you to get at breakfast." Just the way Sirius said it made Niki sure that it was a Howler. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Gee, thanks." she said sarcastically. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Anyway, when's your first flying lesson?" Sirius asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Today, actually. We're with the Slytherins." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, make sure you show them that you're better than them." Sirius said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Sirius!" Remus exclaimed. "Don't do that, Niki." he warned./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I wasn't going to. I actually thought I'd try and be friends with some of them." Niki said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Sirius was about to say something, but Remus cut him off before he had even started. "Which ones?" he asked, shooting Sirius a warning glance./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, definitely not Theodore Nott. He's such a jerk. You should have heard what he was saying to Harry and I just before the Sorting. I ended up kicking him. Luckily, McGonagall didn't find out, so I didn't get in trouble." Niki grinned mischievously. "I thought I'd try with Draco Malfoy, though. He looks like he needs a friend." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You can't be friends with a Malfoy!" Sirius burst out. "Lucius Malfoy was one of the most dedicated Death Eaters back when Voldemort was still at large! He's only not in Azkaban because he lied his way out!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Which is exactly why we should keep Draco from going the same way!" Niki argued. "I'm going to talk to him at breakfast. I'll tell you how it goes tonight." With that, she cut off the connection and put away the mirror./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry's P.O.V./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki skipped into the Great Hall and headed towards... the Slytherin table? No, more than that, Malfoy at the Slytherin table! Why would she want to talk to him? /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry watched as Niki and Malfoy talked. Malfoy said something that made Niki frown. She responded with something that made Malfoy furious. He said something. Niki looked like she was about to cry when she responded. He snapped at her, and she ran out of the Hall in tears. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hey Malfoy!" Harry shouted, striding towards him./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What Potter?" Malfoy asked with a smirk. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What did you say to Niki?" Harry asked, furious. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I don't see how that concerns you, Potter." Malfoy sneered./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""It very much concerns me!" Harry yelled, attracting attention from both students and teachers. "She's my sister, and whatever you said hurt her! So you can either tell me what it was or suffer the consequences." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I'm so scared, Potter." Malfoy said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""You should be. I grew up in the household of two of the Mauraders. If you don't know what that means, ask you father because he was at school with them." Harry snapped. "I could make you cry faster than Niki did if I wanted to. I'm going to find out what you said to her, whether from you, her, or someone else. You can either tell me now, and I might show you a little mercy, or Niki will tell me, and you'll regret ever living."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I'm not afraid of you, Potter." Malfoy said, and sat down. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry strode out of the hall, fuming, and set off to find Niki. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki's POVbr style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Niki skipped into the Great Hall and located Malfoy at the Slytherin table. She walked towards style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Hello, Draco!" she said style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I wanted to know if you'd like to be friends." Niki style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Why would I want to be friends with you?" Malfoy style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Niki frowned. "I thought that you'd like some good influences in your life so that you don't end up a Death Eater like your father did."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Malfoy looks furious. "My father is not a Death Eater And at least I have a father."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Niki looks like she's about to cry. "But Moomy and Dadfoot said that your father was in You-Know-Who's inner circle." she said. "And I do have a father! I have Moomy and Dadfoot!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Moomy and Dadfoot?" Malfoy asks scathingly. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Besides, it's not like they're your real parents. They're just some men who had to take you in because your parents went and got themselves killed because their friends liked Voldemort better than them. And they should! Your parents were idiots. Too bad they didn't have a Sorcerer's Stone like Dumbledore now does!"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Niki, too caught up in what he said about her parents, didn't notice what he said about the Sorcerer's Stone, and ran from the hall in tears./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;" /p 


	13. Chapter 13

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry's POV/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Niki!" Harry called, searching through the school. She wasn't in Gryffindor Tower; I got a girl to check the dorms. "Niki!" Harry called again. He looked out a window into the rain, wondering where she could be, and noticed a dark shape next to the lake. I dark shape with red hair. "Niki!" Harry yelled, sprinting downstairs and out the oak front doors. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"He had some trouble sprinting once he was outside, because the lawn had been transformed into a mud bath from the rain. He eventually made it to the lake, and there was Niki, no cloak, in short sleeves and shorts, covered with mud and shivering, sitting in the style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Niki." Harry panted. "What are you doing out here?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Go away Harry." she said, refusing to look at style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Niki, nothing that Malfoy said is worth listening to." Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"But it was true." Niki said style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"What did he say?" Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"I asked if he wanted to be friends. He asked why he would ever want to be friends with me. So I said to help keep him from going dark like his father and becoming a Death Eater. He said that his father wasn't dark, and that at least he had a father. So then I said that Dadfoot had told me that they were right in You-Know-Who's inner circle, and that I did have a father. I had Moomy and Dadfoot. He told me that calling them Moomy and Dadfoot was stupid, and that they're not really our parents. They're just some men who had to take us in because our parents were idiots and got themselves killed because their friends liked Voldemort better than them."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Why does this make you so upset?" Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Because he was right. Maybe not about them being idiots, but he was right that Moomy and Dadfoot aren't our parents. And it is stupid to call them that. Their names are Moony and Padfoot. I might as well start using them."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Niki, Malfoy wasn't right about any of that. Sirius and Remus love it when you call them Moomy and Dadfoot. Don't change that." Harry said, hugging Niki. "Now come on, let's get back inside before we both get sick." he helped Niki to her feet. As they walked back towards the castle, Harry swore ultimate revenge on Draco Malfoy. He thought he was kidding? Well, Malfoy's about to wish that he went to style="box-sizing: border-box;" /- br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Hey, Crabbe." Harry said to the oversized, gorilla-like boy. "What's the password to your common room?"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Uh, Slytherin." Crabbe style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Great thanks." Harry replied, and hurried away before Crabbe could realize what he'd style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Fred, George!" Harry called down the Gryffindor table. "I need your help..."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /-br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"WHAT THE HECK?" A Ravenclaw girl yelled as most of the Slytherins arrived at breakfast the next morning around the same style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Harry had to stuff his fist into his mouth to stop from giving a very loud laugh, that would pretty much tell the hall that he was style="box-sizing: border-box;" /The Slytherin boys all had very long hair, and it was all Weasley-red. Their robes had all turned bright pink, covered in ruffles and frills. And the best part was, until someone else told them, none of the Slytherins, even the girls, could see it. As soon as one was informed, it became visible to all. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /Harry walked over to the Slytherin table with Niki close on his heels, laughing her head off. br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"So, Malfoy. Still think I was joking?" Harry style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"My father will hear about this." Malfoy said, staring daggers at style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Oh, I'm so scared." Harry said sarcastically. "Don't worry, Malfoy, I wouldn't give you this much mercy. This is just the beginning." With that, he pulled Niki away. /p 


	14. Chapter 14

Niki loved Hogwarts, but her time there was going by very quickly. Soon it was the first day of the Christmas holiday, and only a few people were staying. Niki and Harry had decided to stay at Hogwarts for their first Christmas there, and Ron was staying with them.  
"Harry?" Niki asked. "The first prank on Malfoy happened months ago. When are you going to do the next one? What's it gonna be? Malfoy's freaking out, and he's becoming paranoid."  
"In order for me to know how hard on him to be, you have to tell me exactly what he said." Harry replied, looking up.  
Niki relayed everything to him, and Hermione and Ron joined them around halfway. She was reaching the end, when she stopped.  
"I think he said something else..." she said, thinking hard. "Oh! He said, 'Too bad they didn't have a Sorcerer's Stone like Dumbledore does now!'"  
Hermione dropped the books she'd just picked up. "Dumbledore has a Sorcerer's Stone?" she shrieked.  
"If you believe Malfoy." Ron pointed out.  
"Well, there's one way to find out." Niki said. "Let's go have a look around the third floor."

"I can't believe you talked me into this." Hermione hissed.  
"Well, neither can I, honestly." Niki agreed from under the invisibility cloak.  
"Where did you get this cloak, anyway?" Ron asked.  
"Padfoot." Harry said. "It was our father's. Now, we have to be quiet, or we'll be caught."  
The group of four moved as silently as they could. It was difficult, since they barely fit under the cloak, with four of them.  
"Here we are." Niki whispered. She reached out and turned the handle of the door to the forbidden corridor. Pulling it open, the quartet move inside and quietly closed it before turning around.  
And almost passing out. There, in front of them, was a massive three-headed dog. It started barking, growling, and snapping, trying to find where the source of the smell was coming from. The four children screamed four, blood-curdling screams before scrambling to the door, trying to wrench it open. Finally, they stepped out into a different corridor, and were safe.


	15. Chapter 15

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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Well." Niki said after they had finally stopped running. "Now we know what Dumbledore meant by, 'dying a most painful death.' However, now we're lost."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Well, all we'll get by standing here is detention when Filch finds us." Hermione panted. "So let's see if we can find our way back."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Not likely." Ron style="box-sizing: border-box;" /"Shut up, Ronald." Niki sighed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Shut up both of you." Harry said wearily as Ron opened his mouth to retort. "Be quiet, or we'll be caught."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"They walked a while farther, and then heard the unmistakable shuffling and panting of Filch./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Quick! Through here!" Harry hissed, shoving the other three through a door and closing and locking it, then putting his ear to the door. "He's gone." he finally announced./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Good." Hermione said. "Now, let's get back. Come on Niki, Ronald." she turned around and saw Ron, but not Niki. "Harry, where's Niki?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I'm over here." Niki said, coming around a pillar. "Harry, come see this."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Harry curiously walked over to Niki and saw a large mirror. There were strange markings around the top. "What? It's just a mirror."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Look in it properly." Niki insisted. "Stand here." she positioned Harry so he was directly in front of the mirror./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Niki, what?" Looking back into the mirror, he almost screamed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"There he was in the mirror, along with three other people. One he knew, and two he knew of, had seen pictures of, but had never spoken to. Niki was standing there next to him, her arm around his shoulders, and behind them were James and Lily. Harry looked behind them, into the background, and saw Moony and Padfoot. Behind them where lots of people Harry had never seen before./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""You see them, don't you?" Niki asked, coming to stand next to Harry. The Niki in the mirror faded and was replaced with the actual Niki. "You see all of them."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Yeah, I do." Harry said. "Ron, come here."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""What?" Ron asked, coming over to the twins./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Look in this mirror and tell us what you see." Niki said, her and Harry stepping out of the way./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""um..." Ron said. "I only see me." he looked curiously at the twins./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Look longer." Harry insisted, and Ron looked back at the mirror, and let out a yelp./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Wow!" Ron exclaimed./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Do you see them?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""I only see me," Ron said. "But I'm older! I'm Head Boy! And I'm Quidditch Captain, too! I'm holding the Quittitch Cup!" he paused. "I look good."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Harry and Niki looked at each other./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Hermione, what do you see?" Niki asked. Hermione stepped in front of the mirror./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Um, I see..." Hermione looked into the mirror. "I see myself as a Hogwarts Professor. It looks like I'm the Transfiguration teacher. I'm all grown up and able to pass on something I loved learning and doing to other people."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Huh..." Niki said, looking carefully at the markings. "Hey, these are words." she suddenly said. "'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.' Look, if you turn it around and change the spacing, it says, 'I show not your face but your hearts desire.'" she looked at the other three. "Come on, am I wrong?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"Hermione stepped forward and studied the mirror. "No, you're not. What did you and Harry see?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""We saw the same thing. Us with our parents, Moony and Padfoot, and people who I'm assuming are our gandparents and family." Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Well, I'm guessing that what each of us saw is our deepest desire." Hermione said. "I mean, it says that pretty plainly."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""She's right." Harry said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""So that means that our deepest desire is to have our parents and family, along with Moomy and Dadfoot," Niki said, contemplating. "And Hermione wants to be a Hogwarts Transfiguration professor and pass something she loves learning and doing to others, and Ron..." she stopped, and looked at Ron. "He sees himself as Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, and holding the Quidditch Cup." she glared at him. "Really? That's your deepest desire?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Niki," Harry said in a warning tone. Ron's ears were turning red./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px;""Come on, let's go." Niki sighed, taking one last, long look into the mirror, and then walking to the door. The other three followed./p  
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	16. Chapter 16

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"A week after the four friends discovered the Mirror of Erised, it was Christmas. Niki woke up extremely early, even by her standards. It was only four o'clock when she was awake, and she had woken up the rest of the girls in her dormitory, and they were opening presents./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Hermione, thanks!" Niki said, opening her present of a potions kit. "This is so cool!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Thank you, Niki!" Hermione said, holding up her present of a large package of books. "I've been wanting to read these for ages!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, thanks Niki!" Parvati said, opening her present from Niki, a beautiful locket. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow, Harry!" Niki muttered under her breath, staring down into the wrappings. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry had obviously put a lot of time and effort into his present. It was a Harry Potter lego set of Hogwarts, the grounds, and Hagrid's Hut, but it was hand-carved (or magic-carved, probably a teacher helped.) from real stone, wood, all that stuff. There were even real leaves for the trees! There were miniature versions of the creatures in the forest, and of every person inside the castle, grounds, or Hagrid's Hut, and new ones created whenever someone new entered. It was basically a 3-D version of the Marauder's Map, that you put together yourself! /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay, I've got to go find him!" Niki exclaimed, leaping from her bed and rushing down the stairs, and then back up stairs to the boy's dorms. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry!" Niki exclaimed as she entered the room. Surprisingly, all the boys were up, although by this time it was five thirty. "Your present was the best I've ever recieved! How on Earth did you make it?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""McGonagall." Harry said. "She did most of the spell-work. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, it's the most amazing thing ever!" Niki squealed, hugging her brother. "My present is so lame compared to it!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No it's not!" Harry said. "I loved it!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As Harry was Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Niki had bought him a Broomstick Servicing Kit. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I think it's lame now." Niki said. "I didn't even go out to find it! It was owl-order." she pouted./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, come on Niki." Harry said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's a wonderful present. I love it. I would love it if it was a Potions kit, and you know I hate Potions."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hermione gave me a potions kit." Niki said thoughtfully. "I could help you get better if you'd like."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Uh, sure!" Harry said. "We can do that later today."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay!" Niki said. "Now, I'm gonna go open the rest of my presents." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"As she left, Niki heard Seamus mutter to Harry./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Your sister is adorable." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I can hear you!" Niki called over her shoulder, and closed the door on loud peals of laughter from the other boys. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki skipped back into her own dormitory and hovered over Hermione's shoulder, until she finally turned around./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""em style="box-sizing: border-box;"What?"/em she asked/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Do you want to help me put together my model of Hogwarts?" Niki said. "It'll show you every secret of the castle. It even has a Room of Requirement, which Dadfoot told us about,and the door only appears when somebody's opening it!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I'll help!" said Hermione excitedly. "Come on, let's get to work!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"And the two girls spent the majority of the day putting it together like a puzzle, and went to sleep that night smiling./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Severus wandered into his office that evening in a terrible mood. Christmas was a very noisy affair, even with so little students in the castle, and he was glad it was over. He was very surprised when he saw a small parcel on the table./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What?" he muttered to himself. Picking it up and studying it, he noticed a note./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"To: Severus/strong/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"From: Niki/strong/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Curiously, Severus opened it, and saw it was a collection of potion ingredients and and bottles. He carefully put it in a cupboard that held a collection of lilies, and went to his chambers, thinking hard./p 


	17. Chapter 17

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Have you found anything yet?" Niki asked for the third time in five minutes. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""My answer is the same as it was two minutes ago, Niki." Harry responded. "NO."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Niki were all three sitting in the library, researching Nicholas Flamel. While talking to Hagrid, he had let slip that Nicholas Flamel was the only one other then the teachers and himself who knew what Fluffy was guarding. Since they assumed that it was a Sorcerer's Stone, they were now trying to find out who Flamel was./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hey, I found something!" Hermione whisper-yelled across the table. "Nicholas Flamel, alchemist, blah blah blah, is a good friend of Albus Dumbledore and the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, that's not very informative, is it?" Ron said. "We already knew that." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yes, well, know we know who he is." Hermione said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I heard Snape and Quirrel arguing yesterday." Niki said conversationally. "Snape asked whether Quirrel knew how to get past Fluffy yet. And then, later yesterday evening, I heard Quirrel saying that he was going to go past Fluffy tonight."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Ron and Harry leapt to their feet, and Hermione actually screamed. Madam Pince was on them immediately./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No respect for the other students, none at all, out, em style="box-sizing: border-box;"out, OUT!" /emThe four friends fled the library and ran to Gryffindor Tower./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Niki, do you realize what this means?" Hermione yelled. Lowering her voice, she continued. "This means that Quirrel is the one we need to look out for, not Snape as we thought, and we're obviously going to have to go after Quirrel, because we can't let You-Know-Who get the Sorcerer's Stone!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I worked that much out." Niki said indignantly. "I just thought I'd let you know with out freaking you out before-hand by sounding all scared when I said it!" she paused. "Well, thwarting Voldemort's return is a nice way to spend Christmas Holiday." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, now we have to plan for tonight." Harry said, and the others nodded in agreement. /p 


	18. Chapter 18

"You've got the cloak, Harry?" Niki asked quietly when the quartet met up after dinner in the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah. You've got some musical device?" Harry responded.

"I was just planning on humming or singing." Niki whispered back.

"Well, hope you can do it well." Ron responded. "I'm not sure you can."

Niki punched him at the same time she stomped, hard, on his foot.

"OUCH!" Ron yelped.

"Well, come on!" Niki said, imitating Hermione's bossy voice. "We're wasting time here, I thought we wanted to rescue the world?"

"I don't sound like that!" Hermione said indignantly.

"The fact that you just automatically assume that I was imitating you makes this so much funnier." Niki said, grinning.

"Well, come on." Hermione sniffed. "This stone isn't going to save itself."

The quartet covered themselves with the cloak and slipped outside. Creeping quietly to the third floor, Niki started humming quietly, until they opened the door and realized that a harp was playing softly.

"Well, I guess I don't have to sing." Niki said, an attempt at humor that fell flat. "Okay, fine. Help me move this paw so we can go down this trapdoor."

Working together, the four friends managed to move the massive paw that held the trapdoor shut. Then they turned to look at each other.

"Well, who goes first?" Ron finally asked. "It won't be me."

"Coward." Niki said, and jumped into the pit, falling for almost a full minute before landing with a 'thump' on something soft. The square of light that was the trapdoor was no more than a postage stamp.

"Niki?" she heard Harry's voice call down. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Niki said, looking around. Harry jumped. Hermione followed. "I'm in a thicket of Devil's Snare."

"What?" Ron shouted down. "I'm not jumping down now, no way." There was suddenly the sounds of vicious snarling, barking, and growling. Fluffy had woken up, and Ron soon joined them.

"What were you saying, Ronald?" Niki asked. She seemed remarkably unconcerned, given the fact that she was covered almost entirely, leaving only her head visable, in Devil's Snare, that was working it's way up her neck. The other three were fighting hard against the plant, but Niki just sat there.

"You do know that you have to relax, or it'll only kill you faster." Niki informed the trio.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Niki!" Harry snapped. Niki gave him a commiserating look, and was pulled down under the Devil's Snare.

She fell out the bottem and landed in a dark, extremely small room. There was a table lined with nine keys sitting in front of her, and a locked door behind and in front of her.

"Relax and you'll be fine!" she called up. She could hear the other three screaming. "Relax and it let's you out, I'm in a different room now!"

She heard Harry and Ron yell Hermione's name. "Did Hermione go under?" she called.

"Yes, Niki, where are you?" Harry shouted down.

"Just relax!" Niki heard Hermione's voice echoing up. "Do what we say!"

Then the top sealed closed, at least for Niki, and blocked out any noise. She turned instead to the table and noticed for the first time the riddle sitting on it. She sat down on the floor and read it.

*So you've made it past the Devil's Snare.

And now, here you are.

But be warned, because this room, is slowly losing air.

Before you sits nine simple keys.

Now which one do you choose?

Only two will let you live.

The others? Well, you lose.

To help you to decide which one to choose,

We will give you clues.

There are several monsters here.

As well as, other things.

One will get you forward.

The other, back to school.

As for all the others, well,

None of them are cool.

You'll notice that they're most the same.

But three of them, conspiciuously different.

(I've given up on rhymes)

If you want to go forward.

You wouldn't want any of these.

Three right from the left

And three left from the right

Will probably kill you,

So watch out.

Now on the left of poison gas, and on the right of mandrake

Is the one you need.

If you would go forward, that is.

The different ones will help you now.

Find the one you need.

Because one is gas, one is troll, and one takes you behind.

Now, seeking out the mandrake will not be very easy.

But know that it is three to the right

of taking you back to school.*

Niki sat back and studied the keys, muttering to herself and pointing. Finally she selected one of them, and put it in the door in front of her. It opened, and she skipped happily out into a larger chamber, where the other three were waiting.


	19. Chapter 19

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Hey, guys!" Niki said, bounding happily towards her best friends. And Ron. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Niki!" Harry exclaimed, sounding immensely relieved. "What happened to you?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I was dropped into a room with keys." Niki informed the group. "I had to pick the correct one or I'd most likely die. Or so the riddle said. Plus the room was slowly running out of air."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Wow." Harry said. "I had to get past a troll."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I had to get past Devil's Snare." Ron said. "Again. And this time it'd actually kill you."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I had to pick a potion. Three were wine, two were poison, one would take me back, and one would let me go forward." Hermione said. "We both got logic puzzles, Niki!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What are the odds." Harry muttered, shaking his head. "Well, come on."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The quartet moved down the only corridor there was, and eventually found themselves in a large room. At the back, there was the Mirror of Erised. And standing in front of the mirror was-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Quirrell!" Harry said. "And- someone?" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Quirrell was standing next to a woman with long, red hair. They both turned around. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry Potter." Quirrell said, in a voice that did not stutter. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""And friends." the woman said. "Dragione Hawthorn has been kind enough to lend me her body, but I'm looking for a younger, stronger body. One that will last far longer." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki glanced at Harry, who looked back at her. They had identical looks of incomprehension on their faces. em style="box-sizing: border-box;"What does she, or he, or, it, mean? /em/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, I think you know what I mean." Dragione said. "Think, Nicole. What could the big bad Voldemort mean?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"And then Niki got it. And she couldn't let it happen./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""No!" she exclaimed. "Possessing someone shortens their life spans, no! You're not going to do that!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Um, Niki, what does she mean?" Harry asked tentatively. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""She wants you!" Niki shrieked, getting hysterical. "She's going to possess you, and if she's in you for too long, it'll kill you!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Harry visibly paled. Ron let out a roar of anger and rushed at Dragione, but with one lazy flick of her wand, he was blasted sidways into the wall. Ron slid down the stone onto the floor, unmoving. Hermione screamed and ran towards him, and Dragione waved her wand towards the young girl. Hermione was instantly bound so tightly that she couldn't move and inch, no matter how hard she struggled. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;" Dragione sneered. "Now, on to the more interesting fight..."/p 


	20. Chapter 20

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Dragione waved her wand and Harry was bound, too. She walked towards him, and touched the tip of her wand to his forehead, then to hers, all the while muttering under her breath. A smoke-like figure moved from Dragione's body to Harry's, and the woman was left to die on the ground. The robes holding Harry dissolved into dust, and he stood. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Come, then, Nicole." Voldemort's voice said. "Come now. Kill him, and you'll kill me. Haven't you heard the prophesy about your brother? 'Neither can live while the other survives.' Both of us must die, why not do it now? Just get it over and done with." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki's vision was starting to go red. Literally. Her hands began shaking, and her hair levitated off her shoulders, surrounded by a purple glow. Her feet left the ground. Instead of letting it explode out of her like it had before, she directed it towards the red eyes shining out of Harry's body. A jet of purple light went into his eyes, and Voldemort's voice screamed from within Harry. The ghost-like figure fell out of Harry's body and dissipated. Harry's eyes returned to brilliant green as Hermione screamed through her bounds. Niki dropped back to the ground, her vision returning to normal. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the bindings on Hermione dropping, and her and an old man with long, silver hair rushing towards her and Harry. /p 


	21. Chapter 21

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Niki opened her eyes and blinked, trying to get them to adjust to the bright light. Where was she? Suddenly, she remembered what had happened, and sat bolt upright. Madam Pomfrey came hurrying over./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Now, now, careful. Don't want to overexert yourself." she tsked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What happened? Where's Harry? Is he alright? What about Hermione?" Niki asked hurriedly. (strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 10px;"A/N: Notice she didn't ask about Ron.) /strong/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Mr.'s Potter and Weasley and Miss Granger are all fine." Madam Pomfrey said. "Mr. Weasley was quite easy to restore. Mr. Potter was in here for about a week, but is also fine."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""How long have I been here?" Niki asked./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Madam Pomfrey studied Niki. "Almost three weeks. Your friends are quite worried about you. School has already started again."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, then, can I go?" Niki asked. "If they're worried about me, then I have to go find them!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I will see if I can't get Minerva to let them out of class to come see you." she sighed. "You will not be leaving until tomorrow, at the earliest." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""What happened with the Quidditch match? Wasn't that only one week after school started back up?" Niki asked, seeming more worried about this that anything else. Except Harry and Hermione. "Did we crush Slytherin? We did, right?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Slytherin lost to Gryffindor by a considerable margin." Madam Pomfrey said. "Gryffindor is now in the lead for both the House and Quidditch cup." br style="box-sizing: border-box;" / Niki smiled. "Good."br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Niki!" Harry shouted, barging into the Hospital Wing thirty minutes later. "You're all right!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah, I am." Niki said, grinning at him. "So are you lot."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, you and Harry almost died!" Hermione said. "We were so worried about both of you!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Hermione, relax. We're all fine." Niki said. "Why don't we talk about something else?" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Idle chat carried them through two hours, until Madam Pomfrey usured Harry, Ron and Hermione out the door. "She needs rest! Out!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"-/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The next few months flew by. Hermione and Niki passed their exams with flying colors. Harry and even Ron managed to scrape by. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup, and were in the lead for the House Cup. Before the quartet knew it, they were packing in the last ten minutes before the feast. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I can't believe that we're about to leave." Hermione said sadly, folding a pair of jeans and putting them in her trunk./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I'm ready for a nice, quiet summer." Niki replied, grinning. "This was a pretty eventful year." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah." Hermione sighed. "Well, we should go down to the feast." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Okay." Niki agreed. "Dumbledore will be telling the school that Gryffindor won the House Cup pretty soon now." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The two girls walked down to the Great Hall together, and got a seat next to Harry and Ron just as Dumbledore stood up. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, another year gone." he said, eyes twinkling. "And I think we can all agree that it was pretty eventful. Hopefully next year will be quieter."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The four friends grinned at each other./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Now," Dumbledore continued. "The House Cup needs awarding. In fourth place, Ravenclaw, with 324 points. In third place, Slytherin, with 392 points. In second place, Hufflepuff, with 456 points. And in first place, Gryffindor, with 483 points."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The Gryffindor table erupted with cheers, yelling, clapping, and stamping, as the Gryffindors celebrated their victory./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I think that's all of importance." Dumbledore said. "Tuck in, and have a wonderful summer!" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"Food appeared on the tables, and everyone started eating, talking, and laughing. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Niki talked about random things, until Dumbledore dismissed the school to board the Hogwarts Express. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""I'll miss this place." Hermione said sadly, looking around the station. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, I'll be glad to see Moomy and Dadfoot." Niki said, climbing aboard the train. The trio followed her down to a compartment./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;"The majority of the ride was filled with idle chatter, swapping sweets, and playing Exploding Snap. Eventually, the train slowed to a stop, and the students disembarked. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Oh, make sure you write!" Hermione said, hugging the other three./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""We will, don't worry!" Niki said. "I bet I can get Dadfoot to let you guys come over and stay sometime." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, hurry up and arrange that." Ron said. Niki had warmed up to Ron after their battle with Quirrell, and the two now got on quite well. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""We will." Harry said. Ron hugged Hermione and Niki, and he and Harry clapped each other on the back. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Harry! Niki!" came a shout. The quartet looked around and saw Sirius and Remus hurrying towards them. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Dumbledore told us what happened with Voldemort!" Remus said, hugging the two children. "Are you guys alright?"/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""We're fine, Moony." Harry said, hugging Sirius as well. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Well, all Remus did for the last six months was talk about how worried he was about you three." Sirius said. "Oh, four! There's another young lady in the mix."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""My name's Hermione Granger." Hermione introduced herself. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""She's my BFTNMTB." Niki said. "Best Friend That's Not My Twin Brother." /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""It was wonderful meeting you, Hermione." Remus said. "Are you two ready to go?" he asked Harry and Niki./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica;""Yeah." The twins gathered up their things and apparated home with Sirius and Remus, looking forward to a quiet summer with their friends and family. /p 


End file.
